Pages

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Guillaume and Stéphanie at Auschwitz

Source: AFP / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Earlier today, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie were in Poland with Prime Minister Xavier Bettel to pay their respects to the victims of the Holocaust, with a Luxembourgish plaque that was unveiled at Auschwitz.

The Hereditary Grand Ducal couple's attendance at this event dates from 2013, when the previous administration initiated talks to add a memorial to the former concentration camp. The plaque reads, in translation, as follows: "This place shall forever be a cry of despair and warning to mankind. Here the Nazis murdered one and a half million men, women and children, most of them Jews, from different countries in Europe."

This commemorative ceremony is also part of a larger event that recognizes the 70th anniversary of the Soviet liberation of Auschwitz. A number of other royals and dignitaries from across Europe were in attendance.

Almost 4000 people from Luxembourg were imprisoned by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Of these, 263 Jewish residents of Luxembourg were deported to Auschwitz, and 237 of these individuals died during imprisonment. A further 31 residents of Luxembourg, who were not Jewish, were also deported to the camp. At least one-third of them never made it back home. In total, the Holocaust claimed more than 700 lives from Luxembourg.